Last week,  leaders in the nursing  and other professionals in the health sector in the country converged on Enugu for their 15th Annual Conference/General Meeting to discuss and deliberate on issues affecting the nursing profession in Nigeria with a view to moving the profession forward.

 

It was a three-day conference that saw health professionals and students from various Nigerian health institutions under the auspices of the Body of Heads of Nursing Services Departments and Principals of Nursing Schools in Federal Health Institutions coming together to seek for ways of “attaining international best health practices in the sector”.

 

The conference, which was hosted by the Nursing Division of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, had as its theme: “Clinical Excellence: The Role of the Nurse Leader.”

 

Declaring the ceremony open, the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, thanked the nurses for deeming it necessary to organize the event saying that “nursing profession is very important for all levels of government and is key to overall societal development”.

 

She observed that as a care-giver, a nurse provides hands-on care to patients in a variety of settings, ranging from total care to helping patients with illness prevention, as well as ensuring maximum service delivery.

 

“The mission of a nurse in the hospital is to guarantee his or her patients the best nursing care, providing them with dedicated service. You should, as a nurse leader, and heads of health institutions endeavour to inculcate in your professional colleagues, especially those under you the spirit of maintenance of patients’ dignity”, she advised.

 

The deputy governor also urged the nurses to utilize the opportunity provided by the meeting to review their activities with a view to making amends and attaining international best health practices in the sector.

 

In her keynote address entitled: “Clinical Excellence: Role of the Nurse Leader,” Dr Ijeoma Okoronkwo said that as a “sacred” profession, there was always the need for nurses to treat their patients with utmost care in recognition of the patients’ dignity.

 

While observing that caring was the essence of nursing, she called on the health leaders to ensure that patients were given the best care for their money, urging them to handle them in such a way that at the end of the day the patient would be very grateful.

 

Her words: “Clinical excellence involves the utmost care given to patients by nurses that by the end of the day, will result to their being satisfied. Nursing is all about caring but are we still being that caring as we are meant to be? You are meant to give the patients the utmost care and show them love. Let us take care of them in such a way that patients will at the end of the day say ‘thank you nurse’.

 

“We need to understand that everybody that comes to us is special and desires to be given a special treatment. There shouldn’t be discrimination of any kind. These patients have paid and they want value for their money. They expect to be given the best care and it should be so.

 

 

“So, that is why I appreciate the theme. The nurse leaders are meant to always teach the young ones what they are meant to do. They have to guide them effectively and not being office-bound always. As leaders you should always go round the wards and get first-hand information, ensure that the patients are given the best treatment that they would value”.

 

She also pointed out some of the challenges facing the nursing sector to include shortage of nurses and lack of resources, pointing out that there was need for nurses to prove these challenges with research-based evidence so that the management would be able to look into them.

 

Dr Okoronkwo, however, expressed hope that “for the nurses to come together to talk about clinical excellence, it means they have woken up, things will get better. “We are now in a new era, the era where best practices are talked about. So, I think it is the right time for us to come together and lift our profession high by implementing best practices to our patients”.

 

Also speaking, the Deputy Director/Head of Nursing Services, UNTH Enugu, Mrs Chinwe Achukwu, disclosed that one of the ideas behind this year’s annual conference was the observation that the quality of service was going down “not just in the nursing profession but generally speaking”.

 

She described the theme as apt and timely, saying that it best arrests the current situation of nursing services in the country and would give room for suggestions to better the condition of nursing in the country.

 

She, therefore, called on government at various levels to put in place policies that would help improve the condition of service in the nursing sector in the country.

 

In the same vein, the Chairman of the Body of Head of Nursing Services Department and Principals of Nursing Schools in Federal Health Institutions, Mr Haruna Danladi, noted that the conference provided a good opportunity for the nurse leaders to share common experiences in their areas of work and to also deliberate on pertinent issues affecting the nursing profession, especially as it concerned federal institutions.

 

“Nursing is a major player in health care and nurses constitute the largest segment of health care providers. This singular quality underscores the importance of nursing education and practice. Therefore, when nursing care is excellent in any health institution, the institution itself is rated high,” he said.

 

Mr Danladi, who was the chairman of the occasion, expressed optimism that with issues of excellent provision of nursing care being discussed properly and solutions proffered, the public image of nurses would be elevated positively.

 

The event also featured some side attractions such as scientific sessions, dancing by select dance groups, discussions between health professionals and students, among others.

 

In a chat with Oriental News, some of the nursing students expressed satisfaction on the conference and the various speeches which they said would go a long way in making things better for them in the nursing profession.

 

A nursing student from UNTH, Enugu, Ijeoma Udeh, thanked the organizers for “deeming it necessary to let us in on the basic things about the profession through this conference. I am sure many of us have learnt a lot from it and will make use of them”.

 

Similarly, another student who gave her name as Cynthia noted that such meetings with stakeholders in the profession should always be organized as they serve as an opportunity for them to be clarified on some pertinent issues concerning the profession, adding that “it gives us a clearer picture of what is obtainable in the profession.”

 

BY: CHINEDU ASADU

Daily Sun